One of may have escaped through the raindrops of Justice and Parvalorem, the company that manages the bank’s toxic waste. THE discovered that Carlos Marques created a scheme to buy, in a mega-sale, more than 200,000 hectares of land in the Belas area. This relevant asset had been seized by the State. Carlos Marques, businessman and alleged figurehead of Oliveira Costa, owed 100 million euros to BPN.
Carlos Marques was once the fifth largest debtor in the BPN, bank founded by Oliveira Costa.
Carlos Marques’ debt to BPN exceeded 100 million euros. When it was acquired by Parvaloremwas at 85.2 million euros.
The approximately 15 million recovered resulted from the judicial sale of all assets that arose from the insolvent estate of Carlos Marques’ companies that owed money to BPN.
Due to strong evidence of aggravated fraud, tax fraud and money laundering of BPN, Carlos Marques was arrested on October 30, 2010. That year, but only that year, he spent Christmas in jail.
He only got house arrest because he only gave up what he had in his own name.
Network with more than 30 companies
But the Public Prosecutor’s Office realized that 34 companies were managed by Carlos Marques’ front men, plus a dozen ‘offshore’ companies, the areas where the dark hides, will have served to hide everything that the businessman acquired with BPN’s millions.
The 34 companies were based in various locations across the country, from the Algarve to Penafiel.
Era em Penafiel that worked at Future beaststhe company that Marques used to collect 37 and a half million euros from BPN.
A Future beasts had taken out a loan from Caixa de Crédito Agrícola to acquire one million square meters of adjacent land, where Carlos Marques wanted to build Belas Residence Go
I do not contract that Future beasts signed with BPN, we read that the loan from Oliveira Costa’s bank would be used to pay Marques’ debt to Caixa de Crédito Agrícola. And the land – plus the ambitious plans for 450 tourist apartments, 350 villas and a golf course – would become the guarantee for the 37 and a half million euros lent by BPN.
But we have to read the risk analysis of the loan contract, which was closed in March 2007, to understand that the deal had everything it needed to open a hole in BPN.
The technicians who carried out the risk analysis concluded that the reimbursement period for the 37 and a half million euros was clearly reduced, given the ambition of the project.
But things progressed, and the 37 and a half million went straight into Carlos Marques’ pockets.
When he was arrested on October 30, 2010, authorities seized some jewelry of the crown, allegedly acquired at the expense of more than 100 million that Carlos Marques’ various shell companies were pocketing.
Process was buried in 2016
But in 2016, the Criminal Instruction Court buried the Carlos Marques case, citing a lack of evidence. He ordered the return of the one million euro deposit and the seized goods.
Bucket of cold water for Parvaloremwhich since 2012 had managed the financial waste it had inherited from BPN.
Unsatisfied, the Parvalorem appealed to the Lisbon Court of Appeal. And the Court not only agreed with him but – highlighting the defendant’s cunning conduct, based on a well-conceived scheme – concluded that Marques had carried out a gigantic fraud. Carlos Marques left the Court of Appeal sentenced for committing 3 crimes of qualified fraud.
From appeal to appeal, from court to court, Carlos Marques ended up paying a few more crumbs, around five million euros, as he informed us via email. Parvaloremand closed accounts with the Courts and the Parvalorem.
Until one of Carlos Marques’ sons – Carlos João da Costa Marques – decided to install an illegal kennel in the old factory. Toddy.
There are 16,000 square meters of land, a small portion of the approximately 200,000 square meters that had been given as guarantee for the 37.5 million euro loan that his father, Carlos Marques, took out from BPN in 2007.
